First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material Characteristics
Due to the major environmental impact of peat-based growing media production and the need of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, a wider application of peat substitutes in growing media is requested. All peat substitutes under use have constraints associated with their properties. Ther...
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2021-06-01
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/7/7/164 |
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doaj-f55ddb557ec94cad998f8d740acb8e8e2021-07-23T13:42:54ZengMDPI AGHorticulturae2311-75242021-06-01716416410.3390/horticulturae7070164First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material CharacteristicsKatharina Leiber-Sauheitl0Heike Bohne1Jürgen Böttcher2Institute for Soil Science, Leibniz University Hannover, 30419 Hannover, GermanyInstitute for Soil Science, Leibniz University Hannover, 30419 Hannover, GermanyInstitute for Soil Science, Leibniz University Hannover, 30419 Hannover, GermanyDue to the major environmental impact of peat-based growing media production and the need of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, a wider application of peat substitutes in growing media is requested. All peat substitutes under use have constraints associated with their properties. Therefore, a preliminary test procedure for identifying new raw materials as peat substitutes in growing media was developed and validated. By applying the preliminary test procedure, the potential limitations of cultivation of potential peat substitutes are indicated, and measures for cultivation regulation are recommended. For the development of the new preliminary test procedure, four raw materials were investigated: composted heather, alder, cattail, and reed. The preliminary test procedure comprises several material and technological criteria as well as aspects of plant cultivation, enabling the evaluation of the raw materials and the processed components for growing media. Results derived from the preliminary test procedure were checked and confirmed by experiments with horticultural crops in different sections of commercial horticulture. Within two years, the identification of new peat substitutes was possible by the application of the preliminary test procedure and its test criteria, which provide a structure for the systematic investigation of potential new peat substitutes starting with the raw material.https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/7/7/164peat substitutegrowing mediadecision treefeasibilityheathercattail |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Katharina Leiber-Sauheitl Heike Bohne Jürgen Böttcher |
spellingShingle |
Katharina Leiber-Sauheitl Heike Bohne Jürgen Böttcher First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material Characteristics Horticulturae peat substitute growing media decision tree feasibility heather cattail |
author_facet |
Katharina Leiber-Sauheitl Heike Bohne Jürgen Böttcher |
author_sort |
Katharina Leiber-Sauheitl |
title |
First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material Characteristics |
title_short |
First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material Characteristics |
title_full |
First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material Characteristics |
title_fullStr |
First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material Characteristics |
title_full_unstemmed |
First Steps toward a Test Procedure to Identify Peat Substitutes for Growing Media by Means of Chemical, Physical, and Biological Material Characteristics |
title_sort |
first steps toward a test procedure to identify peat substitutes for growing media by means of chemical, physical, and biological material characteristics |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Horticulturae |
issn |
2311-7524 |
publishDate |
2021-06-01 |
description |
Due to the major environmental impact of peat-based growing media production and the need of lowering greenhouse gas emissions in all sectors, a wider application of peat substitutes in growing media is requested. All peat substitutes under use have constraints associated with their properties. Therefore, a preliminary test procedure for identifying new raw materials as peat substitutes in growing media was developed and validated. By applying the preliminary test procedure, the potential limitations of cultivation of potential peat substitutes are indicated, and measures for cultivation regulation are recommended. For the development of the new preliminary test procedure, four raw materials were investigated: composted heather, alder, cattail, and reed. The preliminary test procedure comprises several material and technological criteria as well as aspects of plant cultivation, enabling the evaluation of the raw materials and the processed components for growing media. Results derived from the preliminary test procedure were checked and confirmed by experiments with horticultural crops in different sections of commercial horticulture. Within two years, the identification of new peat substitutes was possible by the application of the preliminary test procedure and its test criteria, which provide a structure for the systematic investigation of potential new peat substitutes starting with the raw material. |
topic |
peat substitute growing media decision tree feasibility heather cattail |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2311-7524/7/7/164 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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